Washington, DC - Secretary of State John Kerry will announce and present the 16th Awards for Corporate Excellence (ACE) at 9:15 a.m. on December 9 in the Benjamin Franklin Diplomatic Reception Room at the U.S. Department of State.

The ACE, established in 1999, emphasizes the important role U.S. businesses can play abroad to advance ethical practices, sustainable development, and democratic values through exemplary conduct in their overseas operations.

This year, U.S. ambassadors nominated 39 U.S.-based companies operating overseas. A senior interagency committee selected the three winners from among the following nine finalists: Chevron Corporation in Burma, The Coca-Cola Company in the Philippines, ContourGlobal in Togo, EcoPlanet Bamboo Group in Nicaragua, General Electric South Africa Technologies (Pty) Ltd., General Electric in Tunisia, GlassPoint Solar in Oman, The Linden Centre in China, and Wagner Asia Equipment, LLC, in Mongolia. The names of the winners will be publicly and officially announced at the ACE ceremony.